Okay, that last thread got me thinking about quirks, for some reason. I have a weird one--which is just to be assumed when you mix the traits of "artist" with "geek."

I "catch" laughs like most people catch colds. If I am around someone I like long enough, I start to laugh like them without meaning to. It is quite odd and probably freaks people out. One day I noticed I was laughing like my ceramics teacher. I've also picked up the laughs of my best friend, sister, and numerous other people. But, now that I'm a stay-at-home mom and don't get out much, I've finally developed my own laugh, which includes a very unattractive snort. I think I need to meet some new people soon--I'm in need of a laugh makeover.

God I'd hate that! My best friend has his laugh change every few years, it started with a laugh kinda like a seagul noise which he changed it to, then he just stopped breathing when he laughed, causing alot of pain, and now he laughs like a seagul again.

/me looks up prehensile in dictionary
Uhm... why would your toes be adapted for grabbing?

Quote:

I can curl my tongue into a tube *and* I can bend the tip backward. Apparently the combination of both these abilities is something of a genetic rarity.

Hmm... I don't really know what that would look like, but personally I'm able to basically crunch up the tip of my tongue into a few kind of rolls.

I can wiggle my ears....and my scalp. Since I have quite alot of very curly hair (basically an afro) it looks pretty funny to see my entire mass of hair move.

I'm able to bend my right thumb onto my knuckle. It's a developed talent. I have never broken a bone or snapped a tennon or anything, so this must be developed. I was sitting in school one day and I kept on forcing it farther and farthing (quite painfully) and I kept on doing it until either my hand developed the ability to do it without any damage, or until my thumbs nerves in that section were destroyed

Uhm.. I can balance guitars on my chin easily. Uh, sticks are easy too, but chairs are usually quite heavy.

Location: Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex. I could pinch them.

Posts: 1,887

Having prehensile toes comes in handy when I've dropped a pen as I can pick it up without bending over.

Humans, descended from monkeys, possess traits, some more common than others, with their simian ancestors. Gorillas have prehensile feet also. You've probably seen film footage of them holding food in their feet.

Monkeys lived in trees, jumping from limb to limb and grabbing on with not only their hands but also their feet. Having feet and toes that can grasp strongly is a real advantage for tree dwellers. If you have any doubt compare the ease of climbing a tree barefoot vs. climbing it with shoes on.

Location: Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex. I could pinch them.

Posts: 1,887

Czar, I honestly don't know if it's a rare trait or not. I could try and find some research on it but I doubt anyone would fund a study of that type. Well, I wouldn't anyway. I'm astonished that someone funded a study about the tongue rolling and bending ability.

Maybe we could have a poll on GV. We could ask...

"Can you pick up objects with your toes?"

Could be interesting to see the results, although they'd be unscientific. This is hardly an ideal test group as it's heavily weighted toward the analytical, technical types.

Possessing a rare trait doesn't mean you're a throwback. It just means that you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to inherit that gene from both your parents.

I haven't read the whole thing but it's not exactly up to date. For instance there is no such thing as a "...gene for blue eyes." If anyone's interested in an explanation as to how eye color is coded genetically I'd be happy to attempt a simple explanation.

Alleles are either Dominant or recessive and alleles have 2 genotypes in them. Dominant will show up if it's 50% dominant and 50% recessive. This means if you have the ability to roll your tongue you'd have Tt if you had 50% dominant and 50% recessive which is called heterozygous. The rest of people are either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive being either TT or tt. Each parent gives one genotype and if the child has tt they won't roll their tongue and they'll have a recessive phenotype (result) and if they have Tt or TT they will, and will have a dominant phenotype.

Feels good to be doing Grade 10 science again, haven't done it since the evil teacher in Grade 6 made us do it. Needing to be able to name all the organelles, their functions, dissect squids, and be able to formulate chemical compounds shouldnt be done in Grade 6, but atleast I can remember lots of it